Chapter 371: The Truth

Clergymen and Templars alike quickly got out of the way of Michael as he stormed through the Holy Seat’s wall. With his eyes glued to Constance’s door and his large book of evidence, he wanted to barge in and demand an answer, but stopped himself. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down and knocked.

"Enter." Constance’s soft voice called out, and stepping in, he saw him at his desk. "Michael. What do I owe this pleasure?"

"Your Holiness." Michael said with gritted teeth, "Tell me the truth, or at least let me see it."

Constance frowned and stood up. "What truth?" With a smile that would make anyone believe he was innocent, Consatcne stared at him. Michael balled his fist and took another deep breath.

"I know the Church has lied. I have the evidence." Michael placed the book down in front of Constance. Picking it up, he gently flicked through the pages, his eyes going wide with amazement.

"You." He huffed out, unable to believe the work Michael had put in, "You really left no room for doubt." Constance put the book down and looked back up at Michael, "But what do you want me to do?"

"Admit the truth. Tell me what is so horrible that the Church has even messed with the Holy Book." The desperation in his voice was obvious, and Constance could tell that he would never rest until he had his answers. It was clear why. He felt betrayed. His entire life had been a lie.

"Do you really want to know, Michael?" Constance softly smiled, "No, you won’t trust what I say. You want access to the Secret Archive."

"It was what I wanted a year ago, when I wanted to help you, Your Holiness. Now... I don’t know."

"The Church still has a place in your heart. You call me Your Holiness after all." Constance got up and indicated for Michael to follow him. "If we are telling the truth, then I will tell you one. This will be a test to see if you can handle what comes next." Michael nodded hesitantly, and Constance smiled, "I don’t need to ask, but you know the origin of the Templar order."

"Of course. When the church was first forming, they needed a sword to defend against the pagans. The Templars were formed under the Grand Templar, Gideon ’The Brave.’"

Constance smiled and shook his head. "A lie." Michael froze for a second. Constance patiently waited for him to recover from the shock. "You see, the Templars were formed at the dawn of the Church, but it was very different. First of all, the role of Grand Templar didn’t exist. As for Grand Templar Gideon, I don’t know if he was real or not. Any information has been lost."

"That’s...." Michael gulped, "That’s the truth?"

"Not all of it." Constance casually carried on as he shattered Michael’s world, "Whilst the order existed, the role of Grand Templar was formed later; the exact date is unknown. The ’Meeting Of Equals.’ As you know, it was when the Templar order changed, splitting the role of grand Templar into four equals. But that’s another lie. The ’Meeting Of Equals’ was actually the first documented true case of The Grand Templar’s existence."

"This is a lie..." Michael’s words trailed, but Constance gave him no sympathy and carried on.

"It’s true. The document the Templar order has is just a part of it. The real reason the role of Grand Templar was created was that the Church needed men who were available to carry out any order, aswell as letting the normal Templars have people offload their burdens to. The ’Vow of Sacrifice’ was a great way to do it."

Constance paused and shook his head at the cruelty of the truth. It wasn’t even the opes that hid this truth, but the first Grand Templars themselves. "Let men become butchers whilst feeling good about themselves. Let them believe they were doing it for the people." Constance opened a pair of double doors. At the end, the silver throne loomed. "Your role has only been a justification to purge heathens and follow the Pope’s every order. Nothing more."

Michael grabbed his mouth in disbelief. He wanted to cry out, it must have been a lie, but stopped himself. Constance carried on with the same casualness "Ramiel and Elijah can never know this secret. Gabriel wouldn’t care. But if you do what you want to, you have to crush their belief that they are nothing more than men tricked into becoming killers for the Church under a false belief. Sometimes we lie to protect others, even if it’s wrong."

Constance looked at all the statues around him with indifference before arriving behind the silver throne. Pulling out the key to the door behind it, he held it out to Michael, the man not even noticing due to his disbelief at what he had been told. "Michael." Constance said gently, finally getting him to notice, "Everything you want to know is right there."

Michael looked at the key for what felt like eternity. He wanted to reach out, but part of him told him not to. Taking deep, slow breaths, he rubbed his face and grabbed it. Unlocking the door, Constance sighed, looking at his back,’In the end, he will destroy everything.’It was his final card. Destroy Michael’s identity as a Grand Templar and hope he realised what he and those before him had done was necessary.

Michael heard the heavy door unlock and slowly pushed it open. At the end, he saw the dimly lit room, hundreds of books and artefacts carefully sorted. Taking a step forward, he heard Constance follow behind. Looking at the paintings and other relics, he couldn’t help but be stunned seeing some of them.

Looking at the Stone tablet, he could tell it was the oldest relic, the oldest document.

’As Sol’s chosen, I will usher his light into the World,

Jeremiah.’

It was written in a language no longer used in modern times. Even though it was a dead language, he could read it; some of the oldest available documents the church owned were written in the language. Michael looked at Constance in disbelief. "Whose Jeremiah?"

Constance smiled and walked over. Looking at the Tablet, they couldn’t tell how old it was. The writing has been worn down, and the stone itself seems as though it would crumble at the slightest touch. "Pope Jeremiah ’The Oracle’." Constance paused and looked deep into Michael’s eyes, "The first Blessed One and first Pope of the Holy Seat."

Michael was stunned on the spot, unable to utter a word. Turning his head stiffly, he looked up at Constance, who stared at the tablet. "No, " he meekly said, lacking any of the usual power he carried, "Pope Phi..."

"He was." Constacne cut him off with a deep sigh, "Pope Phineas. The one you know as our founder came after him." Constance walked over and grabbed a key off the wall. Unlocking the only locked chest in the room, he pulled out a parchment and handed it over to Michael.

Michael took it with shaking hands. The writing was rough and in the same dead language that the tablet was written in.

’Jeremiah is stuck on making the succession for the next Blessed One. He claims they will come after his death.

The belief in Sol has only started to spread, and if we do as he says, his Light may never return.

We will do as I say.

Phineas’

"After that letter, all traces of Jeremiah vanished, and Phineas became Pope." Michael looked up with a pale face, and Constance could understand why, "Do you understand now, Michael. If we follow the rules of Jeremiah, what you know right now is obsolete. You should be kneeling before Alfred Lindonfall and swearing to serve him. The man you hate. The man you call evil. He is the rightful heir to the Holy Seat according to this."

"So this is why you want him dead?" Michael asked him coldly. Looking at Constance, he gushed, offended by the question.

"You really think I want him dead because of something that we don’t even know the age of. The policy regarding the Blessed Ones has never been extermination. If they could be convinced to join the Holy Seat, it was great, but if they couldn’t, we kept a careful distance, watching until they acted out. We have proof that they usually would. Arrogance born from a divine blessing. Alfred Lindofnall is a threat to the world and someone who is destroying the world order. I want him dead because he is dangerous and has abused his authority as Blessed One, not because I’m scared about my position."

Michael looked at Constacne and back down at the document, "If this gets out. The Pantheon will get legitimacy as a successor of the Church."

"Don’t be foolish, Michael." For the first time, Constance dropped his gentle look, his eyes going incredibly cold, "That is not something you or I want, no matter how much you hate me now."

Constance sighed and looked at the parchment again, "So, making all the Blessed One’s crimes in the holy text worse than they were?"

"A warning for the future clergy of the Church. Don’t trust the Blessed Ones. Remind them that they are human and not apostles of Sol. If we had to lie to reinforce this point, then so be it." Michael sighed and handed back the Parchment.

"May I look at more?" Constance thought about it for a second but nodded. Walking away, he leaned against the wall and watched Michael, his eyes hiding a deep chill as he looked at the old Templar.

Michael reached out to grab another book at random, but stopped and looked at Constance. He saw the deep chill in his eyes and knew what it meant, but didn’t care. Gulping, he took a deep breath. "What are the Blessed Ones, Constance?"